Several months ago I wrote about American-born Hong Kong actress Lai Yee (aka Marianne Quon) and mentioned that she was married to Hong Kong movie pioneer Joseph Sunn Jue. He was a seminal figure in the development of Cantonese cinema, and I've been meaning to say a few words about him. Here's an article from the September 21, 1947 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle that gives a fascinating glimpse of Jue and his Grandview Film Company. The charming illustration at top accompanied the article.
喜相逢
In Other Words: Boy Meets Girl
By James Hudson
SAN FRANCISCO'S STREETS are paved with gold and lined with toothsome young ladies and gentlemen. That, in any case, is the impression shared by many Chinese addicts of the movie houses. And the man to blame for all this is a soft-spoken fellow named Joseph Sunn Jue, the Darryl Zanuck of Chinatown.
Actually Joseph Jue is the organizer and president of America's only company that produces Chinese films, and that company is right here. You can find the studio (Grandview Films) in a reconverted night club in one of the alleys that wind off Grant Avenue.
On the average, eight full-length color talkies come out of this alley each year for distribution to large settlements of Chinese throughout the world. But beyond this, Mr. Jue's works have vast and appreciative audiences in Cuba, Mexico, Panama, South America, Hawaii, the Philippines, Australia and Madagascar. In America, 25 movie houses show his films, 10 of them right here in California.
Most of the actors involved in the Jue enterprise are office workers, students and local actors. A few of the stars, however, are imports from China itself. Even within the company, almost everyone performs dual tasks, with actors and stage hands interchanging duties as circumstances demand.
THE STUDIO is as informal as the corner soda fountain, with sundry people wandering in and out during the shooting. Teenage sweethearts and conservative elderly men come in, watch for awhile, and leave — without uttering a word to anyone. The young couples self-consciously try to keep their minds on the company's activities, and the little, old men maintain dead-pan expressions, registering delight with twinkling eyes.
Studio equipment and procedure are masterworks of improvisation. The group's one camera, an electrically run 16mm gadget, is mounted on a home-made platform on which the cameraman sits and pushes back and forth by one-foot-on-the-floor action. The microphone is suspended over the actors' heads by means of an efficient swinging bamboo fishpole-like arrangement. The company's prop furniture suffers much wear and tear from being moved around to obtain different settings.
The mild-mannered founder of the Grandview Film Company, Joseph Jue, was born 42 years ago in Canton. He was raised, however, in San Francisco and is an American citizen. Jue learned the motion picture business the hard way, relying upon a very limited experience and a lot of common sense.
His original interest in movie production started back in silent film days, 1922 to be exact. This was after San Franciscan Ray Duhem had shown him the ropes about making animated cartoons. Jue picked up the rudiments of photography as "free-lance" photographer in Chinatown, got an idea of directing procedures from a few books on the subject, and learned production techniques by sitting through movies day after day "to see how it was done."
Refusing to be bluffed by the depression which wiped out the three other Chinese film companies existing in the U.S., Jue organized the Grandview Company in San Francisco in 1933. In those days he functioned in every capacity but acting. Working as writer, stage hand, producer, director, cameraman and business manager, he produced the company's first professional contribution to filmdom: "Blossom Time," an original talkie.
From the very beginning, the company has catered to China's huge audience. When the Hongkong audience, like ants after the picnic, flocked to see "Blossom Time," the company established its studios there in 1933.
After producing some 120 pictures in China, Mr. Jue opened the Grandview Movie Theater, seating 400, at 756 Jackson Street. The Grandview, unlike the studio, is conspicuously marked by a flashy neon marquee which advertises in Chinese script the picture fare for the day. The theater, however, does not seek tourist trade, and, on the other hand, tourists don't seem to be attracted in great numbers to the theater.
THE COMPANY recently produced "Pear Blossoms in the Storm," a $30,000 color talkie, which took three months to make. A tourist browsing around the Jackson Street movie house the afternoon of the premier would have enjoyed one hour of the two-hour show. Only curiosity would keep him in his seat for the remaining time.
Upon entering the theater, the self-conscious visitor would soon relax as the Orientals continue to chat among themselves, apparently unaware of his existence. He will probably be disappointed to find himself in an environment, except for language, similar to any theater he'd attended before. He might grow a little concerned though, about the unusual number of at-the-restless-crying-age children present.
Though the dialogue is entirely Chinese, except for an occasional "OK," an universal expression, the visitor will be able to follow easily the first hour of the story.
At the end of the hour, the leading female character dies, and the visitor, figuring that a good spot for the story to end, is totally confused by the action which follows.
With its local "modern" background, the setting is entirely Occidental, complete to Vogue and Esquire costumes, night club scenes, and New Year's Eve celebrations. The visitor might be slightly amused to hear the casual mixing of Oriental and Western music. He could easily embarrass himself by laughing when he mistakes for comedy what happens to be a deadly serious portion of the plot. At first, he might smugly decide that production doesn't touch Hollywood techniques. However, after visiting the studio and witnessing the conditions under which the pictures are made, the visitor will concede that the films are amazingly well done.
Though the romantic dramas sell the most tickets in China, the company produces everything from comedies and detective mysteries to historical dramas. Presently, the company is shooting a picture roughly translated "Girl in the Lake."
MR. JUE HOPES to return soon to his prewar production rate of 18 films a year: "six supers and 12 quickies." The supers were budgeted between $40,000 and $60,000, and took from three to six months to make. Quickies, costing from $15,000 to $20,000, were completed in three weeks.
Practically ever member of Mr. Jue's family works actively with the company. The pretty girl smiling behind the cashier's booth is likely to be one of the daughters. The doorman and the usher might be one of the sons. When not working at the theater or doing their high school or college assignments, the brothers and sisters work in the studio.
With the company securely established after guiding it through the storms of economic depression and war, Mr. Jue feels entitled to a rest. So he presently confines himself to writing, producing, and directing when he's not performing administrative duties and taking turns at being doorman or usher at the theater.
"Blossom Time", the inaugural film of Grandview mentioned in the article, is more commonly known as Romance of the Songsters. It was the second ever Cantonese talkie and also the movie debut of Kwan Tak-hing.
If you're familiar with San Francisco's Chinatown or have ever visited there, you may be curious about the Grandview Theater. Here's a picture showing the theater in 1964 from the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection.
And here is a photo that I took just last week. The building is currently occupied by a shop that sells Chinese New Year's paraphernalia, funerary supplies, and devotional items.
Stay tuned for more about Joseph Sunn Jue. In the meantime, check out the links below.
Further Reading
- "Chinatown Ghost Story", SF Weekly, December 11, 1996
- "A Dream Half-Fulfilled", SF Weekly, December 11, 1996
- Interview with Frank Jue (son of Joseph Sunn Jue), October 15, 2005
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